Goods worth KES 24Million Destroyed By Anti-Counterfeit Agency (ACA)

The goods included KES 10.2 Million worth of ball bearings used in all moving parts, electronics, electrical goods, clothing, cosmetics/detergents, petroleum products, and vehicle spare parts.

A number of food products, stationery, and alcoholic beverages found to pose danger to the society were also destroyed.

ACA Executive Director, Elema Halake said the agency’s biggest concern when it comes to fighting this form of illicit trade should go beyond the protection of industries and manufacturers to the protection of human life and safety.

“We will spearhead the review of Intellectual property laws and regulations to make them more deterrent to tame dynamics of counterfeiting in the market,” said Halake.

The state agency also announced it will soon begin interrogations on how best to address the changing face of counterfeiting in the market as it plans to go big on consumer education and installation of punitive penalties on infringement of intellectual property laws.

Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives, Cabinet Secretary, Adan Mohamed said government is committed to adding more enforcement officers to help track and crack down on counterfeiters as part of a bigger initiative to counter the illicit trade.

This comes days after the agency launched its 5 year strategic plan that will see it strengthen its human capital capacity, finance and infrastructure.